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The 53 Places To Go in 2008
What’s on your travel itinerary in the new year? From a new luxury hotel in Laos (where you can take in the view of ancient temples from a chaise lounge by the infinity pool) to the waterfront night clubs of Hvar (the St. Tropez of Croatia) to Death Valley (where recent heavy rains have some flower bloggers speculating on a dazzling spring bloom next year), the travel choices for global nomads have never been more varied.
Maybe it is the lasting memory of the gay icon Elizabeth Taylor's scandalous affair with Richard Burton during his filming of “Night of the Iguana” in the early 60's, but Puerto Vallarta is becoming gayer by the year and is now poised to overtake Acapulco as Mexico's leading gay beach. There are now some dozen gay-friendly hotels (www.gayguidevallarta.com/Lodging/gay.html) and a glut of bars and clubs clustered along the aptly named Zona Romantica.
With a nickname like the “Hamptons of Germany,” it's only a matter of time before jet-setters discover the North Sea island of Sylt. Known for its nudist beaches, reed-thatched houses and designer stores, the T-shaped island has long been popular with German celebrities, particularly television stars and sports figures. But now getting there is a simple hop from London and a dozen other European cities, thanks to the low-cost carrier Air Berlin.
The verdict is in. The Next Prague is ... Prague. Stag parties have moved on, bohemians have left for cheaper rents, and youth hostels are being squeezed by luxe hotels. Joining a new Mandarin Oriental next year is the Augustine, converted from a monastery and other buildings into a Rocco Forte hotel (prague.roccofortecollection.com), and the just-refurbished Hilton Prague Old Town (www.prague-oldtown.hilton.com), with a buzzing restaurant opened by Gordon Ramsay.
If you've been to Quito, Ecuador, there's a good chance you were heading to the Galápagos. But Quito, the colonial capital perched 9,200 feet up in the Andes, is no longer just a whistle stop. The city's crumbling historic center, one of Latin America's least altered, has been reborn after a seven-year, $200 million renovation. And a crop of upscale hotels has arrived, including a JW Marriott (www.marriott.com), making Quito a glorious new center in the so-called Middle of the World.
There's more to Liverpool than just the Beatles. Next year, this industrial city celebrates its 800th birthday (and its designation as European Capital of Culture), as it trots out everything and everyone, from Turner Prize artists to young emerging bands like the Zutons. But make no mistake: The headliner is Paul McCartney, who is returning to play the “Liverpool Sound” concert at Anfield Stadium on June 1 (www.liverpool08.com).
Wi-Fi beer gardens, lederhosen-wearing hipsters, hybrid Mercedes-Benz taxis. No wonder Monocle magazine recently named Munich the world's most livable city. The Bavarian capital might get shortchanged when compared with Berlin in terms of liberalism and creativity, but Munich has a robust economy that stimulates high fashion, cutting-edge cuisine and cushy living — not to mention a new Jewish Museum (www.juedisches-museum.muenchen.de), 79 years in the making, and a posh new hotel in the heart of the city, the Charles, from hotelier Rocco Forte (www.charleshotel.de).
What Axis of Evil? Upscale tour operators are tiptoeing into Iran next year, offering trips that explore the ancient country's Persian treasures and olive-green desert plains. Next spring, the luxury cruise liner Silversea will make stops in the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on its Dubai to Dubai cruise. And California-based Distant Horizons (www.distant-horizons.com) is organizing two 18-day trips that start in Tehran and then weave through the once-forbidden countryside, including stops in Shiraz and Isfahan. Prices start at $5,390 per person.
All those rolling fields of green. The cypress-lined fairways. It's surprising that there aren't more golf links in Tuscany. For better or worse, a new course has just opened for guests at the Terme di Saturnia resort (www.termedisaturnia.it ) in southern Tuscany. The nine-hole course covers 247 acres surrounded by wheat, sunflowers, oats and olive groves — that is, until the next nine holes go in.
Just when you thought the Caribbean island of Anguilla couldn't get any fancier, the Kor Hotel Group is opening the Viceroy Anguilla — the latest offshoot of its Viceroy brand (www.viceroyanguilla.com) — in the spring. The hotel will have 172 luxury accommodations, a 15,000-square-foot spa and beach clubs set along 3,200 feet of private waterfront.
Bogotá might be remembered for its death squads and gang violence, but this Colombian megalopolis — the fourth-largest city in South America — is cleaning up its act and drawing tourists with its cultural diversity and colonial charms. A new Hilton hotel is being built, and three U.S.-based airlines — JetBlue, US Airways and Spirit Airlines — recently applied for the chance to offer direct flights into Bogotá.
Playa Blanca is about to hit the tabloids. Nikki Beach, the très chic beach club in South Beach and St.-Tropez, is opening a gated resort in the once-quiet fishing village on the Pacific coast of Panama (www.nikkibeachpanama.com). The developers are already calling it the “sexiest project in Panama.” Less fabulous families need not worry. Superclubs (www.superclubs.com), the all-inclusive resort, is also dipping its toes into Playa Blanca with the 300-room Breezes Panama, scheduled to open in 2009.
The former home of Cleopatra is rising. Alexandria was among the ancient world's greatest cities, but it had fallen into oblivion. Now a string of new monuments is bringing the so-called Pearl of the Mediterranean back. A gleaming $200 million library, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (www.bibalex.org), resurrects the ancient library in steel and glass. A new Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com/alexandria) stands in the stately Stan Stefano plaza. And throughout town, the city pulses with new shops and upscale cafes.
A faded spring-break haven on Mexico's Pacific coast, Mazatlán has been drawing American retirees and second-home buyers to its less-crowded beaches and cheap real estate. Few tourists show up, partly because there are few hotels. That's changing. A half-dozen resorts are now in the works, including Diamond Beach, a $1.2 billion development with high-rise hotels, a golf course and condominiums.
St. Lucia's upscale progress marches on. After the arrival of eco-hedonistic resorts like Jade Mountain and Discovery at Marigot Bay (which just launched a solar-powered ferry), big-name resorts with $1,000 rooms are on the way. Scheduled to open next year are the Residences at Ritz-Carlton (www.theresidencesstlucia.com), the Westin's Le Paradis (www.leparadisstlucia.com) and the RockResorts' the Landings St. Lucia (www.thelandingsstlucia.com). There's even a private jet terminal in the works.
Lombok, a low-key Indonesian island east of Bali, is coming out of the shadows. With Bali oversaturated with villas and designer restaurants, tourists are hopping on short flights to find less-crowded beaches, a bigger volcano and better surfing. It's also cheaper — not that visitors are slumming it. There's already an Oberoi (www.oberoilombok.com), and other high-end hotels are on the way.
Remote Easter Island, famous for its enigmatic Moai statues, is getting its first luxury resort: Explora en Rapa Nui (www.explora.com). The 30-room resort combines futuristic pod-like design with natural materials like native volcanic rock and Chilean raulí wood, and offers seamless views of the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A three-night stay for two people starts at $3,588.
Virgin Gorda, one of the lesser-known British Virgin Islands, is raising its profile. The Aquamare (www.villaaquamare.com) is set to open in March with three villas measuring 8,000 square feet, with in-villa spa treatments, observation decks and weekly rates starting at $12,500.
In the 17 years since Namibia gained independence from South Africa, this desert country on the West African coast carved out an early eco-tourist niche, with government-run campsites like Namutoni (www.nwr.com.na) in the Etosha National Park. Now the country is going eco-deluxe. (Might it have something to do with Brangelina?) Many lodges have just been refurbished with stylish décor and matching rates. And the private sector is following suit; Kempinski Hotels is planning five luxury hotels to open in the next few years.
When the California Academy of Sciences (www.calacademy.org) opens next fall in Golden Gate Park, it won't just be a stunning architectural addition to San Francisco. The $500 million building, designed by the Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano, will feature a 2.5-acre living roof covered with native plants and aims to be the greenest museum in the world.
Historically crime-ridden Detroit may not spring to mind as a hot tourist spot, but don't tell that to the city's bullish hoteliers. Newcomers include the MGM Grand Detroit (www.mgmgranddetroit.com), the MotorCity Casino Hotel (www.motorcitycasino.com) in an old Wonder Bread factory and the historic Book Cadillac Hotel, being transformed into a Westin (www.westinbookcadillac.com). Plus, the Detroit Institute of Arts (www.dia.org) just reopened after a $158 million renovation.
It ended up on several “it” lists before a single guest arrived. But the Warapuru (www.warapuru.com), a lavish eco-resort, is expected to finally open next year. Designed by the London-based Anouska Hempel, the resort has brought attention to Itacaré, an under-the-radar beach town on Brazil's north coast that draws celebrities and the elite of Rio de Janeiro.
Wildfires this fall didn't prevent the opening of the much-anticipated Hard Rock Hotel San Diego (www.hardrockhotelsd.com), a 420-room resort in the trendy Gaslamp quarter. The 12-story hotel includes a Nobu restaurant, two Rande Gerber bars, a spa and a Pinkberry frozen yogurt shop — all under one roof. Greasing the wheels is Virgin America, which is starting service between San Diego and San Francisco in February.
Three decades after the fall of Saigon, the city (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) has become an unlikely stop on the global golf circuit. In the past decade, old courses like the Dalat Palace Golf Club have been spruced up, and newer ones, like the Ocean Dunes Golf Club in nearby Phan Thiet, on the South China Sea, and designed by Nick Faldo, have raised the bar. Still to come: the Montgomerie Links, just off China Beach, and the first Vietnam course designed by Colin Montgomerie.
In case you missed those big gold letters, Donald T-R-U-M-P is coming to the Las Vegas Strip. The 64-story, 1,282-room Trump International Hotel and Towers Las Vegas (www.trumplv.com) is opening next spring, becoming, its Web site promises, the “most striking building on the Las Vegas Skyline.” If you're merely looking for “unparalleled luxury, sophistication, and contemporary chic,” then head to the new Palazzo Las Vegas ( www.palazzolasvegas.com), a 3,000-room sister to the Venetian, with restaurants by Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse and Charlie Trotter, as well as a Barneys New York.
The world's love affair with shiraz is bringing wine spectators to Australia's Barossa Valley. The hilly region is home to some of the world's oldest shiraz vines, some dating back to the 1840s. And if the more than 60 wineries aren't enough, Barossa also offers an artisanal cheese trail, and nearby Adelaide is a foodie destination in its own right. Backpacking wine tours? The Hungarian wine region of Tokaj is regaining its reputation for quality whites, especially wheat-colored dessert wines made from furmint grapes. The region's winemaking was reborn after the fall of Communism. The Grof Degenfeld, housed in an old castle, even has a plush hotel that offers two-day packages starting at 191 euros, or $283 at $1.50 to the euro (www.hotelgrofdegenfeld.hu).
